Jiang Xue
Thousands of birds have disappeared, and thousands of people have disappeared.
A man in a lone boat with a coir raincoat fishing fishing alone in the snow in the cold river.
[Note]
1. This is a poem written by Liu Zongyuan after he was demoted to Yongzhou. He used the fisherman fishing alone in the cold river to express his loneliness and depression.
2． Absolute: extinct.
3. The birds are gone: there is not a single bird in the sky.
4. Path: path.
5. trace: trace. The traces of people disappeared, and there was no trace of anyone.
6． Coir raincoat (suō lì): coir raincoat, bucket hat.
[Brief Analysis]
Most of Liu Zongyuan's landscape poems describe relatively secluded and cold realms, in order to express his depression, grief and anger at being persecuted and demoted. This poem depicts a picture of a fisherman fishing alone in the cold river, expressing the poet Yongzhen's arrogant and unyielding character despite his loneliness after the failure of reform.
The first two sentences "Thousands of mountains and birds have disappeared, and thousands of paths of people have disappeared" to describe the snow scene. "Thousands of mountains" and "ten thousand paths" are both exaggerations. There should have been birds in the mountains and people on the road, but "the birds disappeared" and "the traces of people disappeared". The poet uses the scene of birds fleeing and pedestrians to disappear to render a desolate, cold and lonely realm. Although the word "snow" is not directly used, the reader seems to have seen the overwhelming snow and felt the biting cold air. This was a reflection of the harsh political environment at that time.
The third and fourth sentences, "A lone man in a boat with a coir raincoat fishing alone in the snow on the cold river" depict the image of a fisherman fishing alone in the cold river. In a place where there is heavy snow and almost no life, there is a lonely fisherman. There was a fisherman on the boat, wearing a raincoat, fishing alone on the snowy river. The image of this fisherman is obviously a portrayal of the poet himself, twisting and turning to express the poet's tenacious, fearless, arrogant and noble spiritual outlook despite his loneliness after the failure of political reform.
About the author: Liu Zongyuan (773-819), courtesy name Zihou, was born in Hedong (now Yongji County, Shandong). Outstanding thinker and essayist. The achievements of poetry are also very high.
"Jiang Xue" is a work written by Liu Zongyuan after he was demoted to Yongzhou, and has always been praised by people. This little poem is based on the scenery. The author uses extremely concise writing to outline the scene of a fisherman fishing alone on a cold river covered with snow. He artistically summarizes the sinister political environment he was in at that time and shows his fearlessness and refusal to surrender to the forces of darkness. Strong will and noble qualities of not conforming to others.
This poem was probably written when he was exiled to Yongzhou. This is a five-character quatrain with oblique rhyme. At first glance, this looks like a clear landscape painting: a cold river in a world of ice and snow, with no pedestrians or birds, except an old man alone in a boat, fishing in silence. But if you look carefully, you will find that this clean, quiet, and cold picture is a symbol of a state of life that is independent, solemn, and aloof from the world.
The artistic conception of this poem is very particular. The poet uses contrast and foil techniques: the vastness of thousands of mountains and paths contrasts with the insignificance of the old man in the boat; the silence of the extinction of birds and people contrasts with the old man’s interest in fishing; The tranquility and silence of the painting set off the emotional turmoil of the characters. The lonely old man is actually a portrayal of the poet's mood.
The scenery described in the poem is: there are no birds in sight on the mountain peaks, and there are no human footprints on the paths. The entire land was covered with white snow. An old fisherman wearing a raincoat and a hat was fishing alone on the Hanjiang River in a lone boat. Look, what a vivid picture of fishing alone on the Hanjiang River! What does this picture mean? As we all know, among works of art, there can never be "pure" landscape poems or landscape paintings. They always reflect the author's feelings and realistic content to a greater or lesser extent. In fact, the best landscape poems, even though they are full of flowers and birds, and full of haze, must be that every word seems to be a scene, and every sound is full of emotion. This poem is no exception. This can be seen as long as we understand Liu Zongyuan's life experience.
2. Writer
Jiang Xue
A native of Xintai, Shandong. Member of the Communist Party of China. He graduated from Qingdao Aeronautical Engineering College in 1965 and later graduated from the Art Department of Beijing Normal University. He has successively served as Vice Chairman of the Chinese Association for the Promotion of Cultural Exchange and Cooperation, President of China-Foreign Exchange Magazine, Part-time Professor, and Associate Researcher. Joined the Chinese Writers Association in 1998. He has authored the special collections "Collection of Jiang Xue's Poems and Calligraphy", "Jiang Xue's Poems and Calligraphy", poetry collection "Love River", prose poems "Hometown Love Song", "Lotus Dream", "Come Back, Luo Holland!" (has been adapted into Songs recorded and broadcast), "Cape of Good Hope", "Children of the Ancient Castle", "The Sun of the 21st Century", etc.